The Bantry Boat

Grey and drizzly. Had a fine Tai Chi class, and stopped by a 2nd hand shop to check on some things I had left there - it's really hard for me to walk out of there without something however!

Today I just had to buy this tile -afterall it's a rowing boat!-- carved and cast by hand in Cork, ireland. How many views of Bantry Bay have I seen on blip by freespiral?
Here's what it says on the back: " A curragh or leather boat, with the helmsman urging on four oarsmen as they row heavenwards amid a sea of crosses. The boat stands vertical on the shaft of the original cross, still to be found in a field overlooking Bantry Bay. It may celebrate St. Brenden who in the 6th c. with his crew of four, may have discovered America some 1000 years before Columbus.
Protect me, O Lord
My boat is so small
And your sea is so big."

I wonder if that cross is on freespiral's (Secret Garden) website of old things in her area. (I'll ask....)

Edit: here's the link to freespiral's site Sheepshead Places.

and another link to show the carving on the stone: here.

The wall plague was made at Wild Goose Studioand has an outer shell of pure bronze and inner core of cast resin... all hand done and a little different.